Sunday, October 01, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives said his office knew a year ago about inappropriate contact between a former intern and newly resigned Rep. Mark Foley and called on Saturday for a criminal probe of the matter.

Foley, 52, a six-term Florida Republican, resigned from the House on Friday after ABC News reported he sent messages to current and former congressional pages with references to sexual organs and acts.

Staff for the Republican leader, Speaker Dennis Hastert, said they had been alerted to an exchange between Foley and one congressional page in the fall of 2005 but were not told about any sexually explicit e-mails or text messages, according to a statement issued by the speaker's office.

They said Foley had been warned to stop any such contact and that Hastert did not become aware of the incident until the spring of 2006.

Yea, right. Hastert knew last year, which is why Foley was discouraged from running for Senate against Katherine Harris in Florida.

Then again, Hastert was a high school wrestling coach and perhaps he had his own, you know, attraction to the youthful sweaty bodies of adolescent men...I wonder if he was getting sloppy seconds from Foley?

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing